History

The Department is closely linked to the History Workshop research group, and to The National Research Foundation Chair in Local Histories, Present Realities.

The History Workshop is an interdisciplinary research group based at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Formed in 1977, it is run by a group of academics, writers and researchers.  It holds conferences, open-days and runs several projects in popular history. 

Email: social.history@wits.ac.za

Tel: 27 (0)11 717 4312
Fax: 27 (0)11 717 4329

Physical Address

Room 43, Robert Sobukwe Block, Ground floor
Braamfontein East Campus,
WITS

Postal Address

History Department
Private Bag 3 Wits,
Johannesburg,
2050,
South Africa

History of Sub-Saharan Africa II (HIST2003)

This course focuses on many essential topics in the history of Sub-Saharan Africa. The course explores the impact of cross-cultrual exchange on the formation and re-formation of African political and economic institutions. The course also explores:

• Africa on the eve of colonial occupation
• Patterns of colonisation (especially British & French)
• Colonial initiatives and African responses
• The construction of ethnicity
• The impact of Christian education,
• The formation of African elites
• The involvement of African townswomen in the anti-colonial struggles, liberation movements and the struggle for independence in Southern Africa

History of the United States - HIST2004A (S1)

This course is a survey of American history from the Revolution to the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Particular attention is given to:

• The evolution of the American political system
• The sectional conflict over slavery
• The growth of capitalist production and the rise of big business, labour unions and a powerful federal government
• Immigration, urbanisation and suburbanisation
• The civil rights struggles of blacks and women
• The emergence of the United States as a world power

South Africa before 1880 - HIST2005A (S2)

This course covers South African history from the earliest times and including the mineral revolution of the 1870s. Topics covered include:

• The origins ofSouth African populations (San, Khoi, early and late Iron Age societies)
•  The beginning of the European settlement
•  The introduction of slaves
•  The creation of a racially exclusive political order in the colonial Cape
•  The rise of larger African States beyond the borders of the Cape
•  War in the interior
•  The “Great Trek” of the 1830s
• The intense cultural struggle triggered by heightened mission activity
• The mineral revolution of the late 1860s and 1870s

Race, Class and Nation in Modern South Africa - HIST2007A

This course investigates how the history of modern South Africa has been constructed. It explores the origins of apartheid, the processes of urbanisation, political resistance and the formation of race, class and national and ethnic identity.

History of Sex - HIST2008A (S2)

This course introduces students to a history of sex, sexuality and gender from the distant past to the present. This course is designed to present students with a broad survey that examines the constructions of sex, sexuality and gender particularly over the last century.

History of the African City - HIST3003A (S2)

This course surveys the key features of urban centres in precolonial ancient Africa. The course also focuses on Eastern Africa and its colonial policies versus African urban realities: specifically, it examines British views of Africans as essentially ‘rural’ and colonial initiatives targeting the unemployed and underemployed urban poor. it considers the key continuities in the postcolonial period, it contrasts these approaches and policies with the actual African urban cultures emerging in major cities and minor towns between the early 1900s and the post-World War II period. The course further focuses on the salient challenges facing African cities in a globalised world and people’s responses thereto. The course also engages with the history and politics of South African cities, particularly on the Witwatersrand.

The Making of Modern South Africa IIIA - HIST3008A (S2-B3)

This course examines the crucial economic, demographic and political forces that have shaped modern South Africa since the mining revolution of the late 19th century. Particular attention is given to the history of ordinary people

The Making of Modern South Africa IIIB - HIST3009A (S2-B4)

This course continues the exploration of key themes in modern South African history from the 1940s onwards. The course examines:

• The policy of segregation and the making of apartheid
• Urbanisation and the creation of urban culture
• Political resistance, including rural uprisings, trade unions and formal parties
• High apartheid
• The 1976 uprising and the crisis of apartheid

This course further examines the diverse ways in which that history has been constructed and represented.

Theory and Practice III - HIST3010A

This course considers the nature of history as an academic discipline with the exploration of an area of special interest. Students cover a range of topics on the theory and practice of history. These perspectives also inform an individually supervised research project on a topic in South African, African, European, British or American history that each student undertakes as part of the course.

History of Sub-Saharan Africa II - HIST3011 (2003)

This course focuses on many essential topics in the history of Sub-Saharan Africa. The course explores the impact of cross-cultrual exchange on the formation and re-formation of African political and economic institutions.

The course also explores: 

• Africa on the eve of colonial occupation, patterns of colonisation (especially British & French)
• Colonial initiatives and African responses

Southern/Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean World - HIST3016A (S1-B1)

Using a combination of thematic and chronological approaches, this course focuses on the key networks of interaction and circulation of people, goods and ideas across the western Indian Ocean (in the Arabian or “Afrasian” Sea) before and after the steam age (early 19th century). The course presents a survey of the historiography of the Indian Ocean.

Latin America and the Caribbean: From Conquest to Independence and Beyond - HIST3017A (S1-B2)

This course surveys the colonial, nationalist and post-colonial history of Latin America and the Caribbean from 1492 to the present. It focuses on the colonial foundations of Latin America and explores the impact of colonial domination on indigenous populations in Spanish America and Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic as well as Portuguese America (Brazil).

The course traces the origins of Latin American wars of independence in the early 19th century and the meaning of independence to Latin American societies. The course further examines the evolution of military dictatorships in most of Latin America in the 20th century and their consequences and a return to electoral multiparty democracies.

The course also focuses on US-Latin America relations in the 19th and 20th centuries and how Latin American countries have responded to the US’s pursuit of geopolitical and regional dominance.

Students discuss the significance of Latin America in the era of South-South cooperation as a counter point to Western hegemony.